@Daniel,
I know all about old equipment ‘stashes’ ...... whilst I was an instructor for 5 years I had a store room that was all mine and for only my use. I filled it with all manner of interesting and useful kit that had been declared ‘scrap’ but saved from the skip by me under my Training School equipment reallocation authority. I am an awful ‘squirrel’ when it comes to hoarding interesting equipment
On several occasions I was approached by sections on the off chance I had saved a piece of equipment that they wish they had not scrapped. On every occasion I had saved their precious kit and they were overjoyed. I hoarded the ‘unusual’, and sadly that was what people accidentally disposed of as they were often new to a section and did not understand its use or high operational value...... as an old timer in the company, I did
When I left my employer, an important repository of unusual and very specialist equipment ceased to exist and the safety net for such equipment in the disposal process was lost. It was so common for sections to have a ‘clear out’ and the younger staff often did not know the history or operational use of some exotic equipment.
So I can totally understand some stashes of equipment by individuals within HPAK, but I was surprised that a large accumulation of equipment that was considered ‘beyond use’ was stored when such storage space has a real financial cost associated with it.
I always remember receiving a memo that stated that my section was being charged £XX per cubic metre of shelf storage we used in our holding stores. I was horrified at the total cost. That day we moved most of our stored equipment into a room that we ‘owned’ and that became our store room. It’s cost was actually lower than the cost of using the official storage as the overheads were lower. It was at that point that I realised some equipment was not actually worth the cost of its storage and would have to be disposed of. A lesson for me in financial accountability and the modern world in which I was working.
Even as a manager in my later career, I still had a stash of ‘useful equipment’ and the obligatory box of useful cables and small items stashed under my desk ! Once a ‘Packrat’, always a ‘Packrat’
Interesting times
Fraser